We are thrilled to share that Carie Eldon, a Healthy Babies Healthy Children (HBHC) Public Health Nurse in Durham Region’s Population Health Division, was recently presented with an Award of Excellence in Leadership as part of the Regional Municipality of Durham’s Commitment to Excel (C2E) Awards program.
This program aims to drive excellence by recognizing employees for their contributions to the community and fostering a supportive work environment. The Excellence in Leadership distinction is a peer-nominated award honouring individuals who have had significant positive impact in the organization through demonstrated outstanding leadership.
Carie Eldon, RN BScN, has supported families in the HBHC program since 2004. Since 2012, Carie has been an NCAST PCI Instructor, training and certifying HBHC nurses on the PCI feeding and teaching scale assessments. Carie is highly regarded for her expertise and dedication in facilitating NCAST education and for making the concept of attachment tangible and meaningful for both staff and clients. She is praised by her team for her patient and supportive teaching style, which normalizes challenges, validates anxieties, and encourages questions. Carie’s professional and approachable demeanor ensures she is always available to answer questions, celebrate successes, and provide calming reassurance. Her colleagues commend her ability to listen to their struggles and to make NCAST learning achievable. They claim that Carie’s enthusiasm for supporting both clients and colleagues is inspiring, and that her thorough explanations and clarifications help staff feel confident and grounded.
“Carie’s calm, patient and positive style during the NCAST testing is the difference maker that allows us to continuously pass. We always second guess ourselves, but she grounds us and allows us to be successful.”
Carie Eldon (right) along with her colleague Cynthia Dixon, who nominated Carie for the Award of Excellence for Leadership.
Beyond her NCAST training duties, Carie is also being recognized for the development of a resource to support public health nurses make decisions about “next steps” or interventions to offer to a family, following completion of the PCI scales. This resource reviews how nurses and family visitors can provide constructive feedback to families and enhance their ability to select or create appropriate interventions and activities. In January 2023, Carie was asked to present about this resource to HBHC teams across Ontario at a PHN-PREP webinar titled “From Assessment to Intervention: A Resource Guide to Applying NCAST-PCI Scale Assessments in Home Visiting Practice.”
On a personal note, Carie is a proud grandmother, eagerly anticipating the arrival of her second grandchild. In her free time, Carie enjoys driving her new yellow Jeep, “Tonka,” with the doors and roof off, which she playfully refers to as “driving naked.” Congratulations, Carie, on your well-deserved recognition as a public health leader!
